The Tribune

BY ANNELIA NIXON

TRIBUNE BUSINESS REPORTER

anixon@tribunemedia.net

THE NATIONAL Tripartite Committee is calling for the Government to take a fresh look at minimum wages and establish an independent wage-setting body to regularly review pay levels across The Bahamas, a recommendation Labour Minister Ms Pia Glover-Rolle has pledged to take to Cabinet.

Council Chairman, Sharon Martin said the country needs a dedicated wage-setting committee or council to address wage disparities, strengthen labour protections and prevent workers from being pushed back below the poverty line as the cost of living and wages across other sectors rise.

“One of my pet peeves, though, is that The Bahamas should have a wage-setting committee… or council,” Ms Martin said. “A body that deals specifically with wages, minister. A body that sets policies that affect not just the gender gap, but counterfactual workers and their pay differences.”

She said such a body should also examine low wages among domestic workers, weak labour market regulation, high levels of informality and the limited bargaining power of workers in the informal economy.

Ms Glover-Rolle, responding to the council’s recommendations, said she fully supports both a second review of the minimum wage and the creation of a wage-setting council that would provide a standardised mechanism for stakeholders to regularly assess wages and conduct salary reviews.

“I absolutely support their recommendation,” Ms Glover-Rolle said. “As I noted immediately, I will be taking that consideration to Cabinet for further discussion and to the finance committee.

“And I also support a wage-setting council so that we can have a standardised bureau, if you will, where the stakeholders are represented through the NTC, that we can continue to review wages in our country, provide salary reviews,”

Ms Glover-Rolle said the proposed council was also realistic and could be organised through the National Tripartite Council, bringing together government representatives, employers and workers.

“Very realistic,” Ms Glover-Rolle said. “It’s something that, through the National Tripartite Council, can be arranged with the perfect stakeholders: the government representatives, the employer confederations, and the workers’ representatives.”

Ms Martin’s call comes as the council continues to focus on closing wage disparities and strengthening the country’s labour framework, particularly for lower-paid and vulnerable workers. She argued that equal pay for equal work and equal opportunity are not privileges but legal entitlements that are central to economic stability and social cohesion.

She also highlighted collective bargaining as an important mechanism for addressing gender pay gaps, particularly among low- and middle-income workers. Ms Martin said domestic workers remain among those affected by entrenched perceptions that their work is low-skilled or less valuable, contributing to lower pay and wider inequalities.

She also questioned why it took so long for The Bahamas to increase its minimum wage, noting that the council had recommended an increase in January 2023.

“In January 2023, with the recommendation of the NTC led by our deputy chair Joan Dilworth, we went to Cabinet,” Ms Martin said. “We said to minister, ‘Please, can we make some recommendations to have the minimum wage increased?’”

She said the recommendation was ultimately accepted and became law but argued that the increase did not go far enough to address poverty.

“It was raised, but it took us a decade before that was done,” Ms Martin said. “Why? And then we barely moved people above the poverty line.”

She warned that wage increases in the public service and other areas can have the unintended effect of leaving minimum- and low-wage workers further behind if the wage floor is not regularly reviewed.

“And then now, because public servants and other persons would have gotten raised in the private sector, now we have pushed those people down below the poverty line,” Ms Martin said.

The council chairman said an oversight mechanism was therefore necessary to ensure wage policy keeps pace with broader economic changes.

“We need an oversight body to ensure that this never happens again,” Ms Martin said.

Ms Glover-Rolle said the Government’s broader labour reform agenda is also being shaped by rapid changes in the workplace, including climate change, digitalisation, artificial intelligence and the changing nature of employment.

“In 2026, the stakes are higher than ever before, and they are rising because the world of work as we know it is rapidly evolving and changing,” Ms Glover-Rolle said.

She said these pressures cannot be addressed by government, employers or workers acting independently, making social dialogue and tripartism increasingly important.

“The only way they will be successfully addressed is through our cooperation and social dialog,” Ms Glover-Rolle said.

She said the country’s labour legislative reform process is now entering its final stages, while the National Apprenticeship Programme and the Decent Work Country Programme represent areas where tripartite cooperation has already produced progress.

Ms Martin maintained that stronger labour protections should not be viewed as a threat to businesses, arguing that predictable labour rules can support productivity and economic development.

“Labour protections are not antagonistic to business growth,” Ms Martin said. “On the contrary, they establish certainty, foster trust, and enhance productivity.”

She said those outcomes are essential to national development as The Bahamas seeks to balance economic competitiveness with social justice.

Ms Glover-Rolle said the proposed wage-setting council would give workers, employers and government a formal mechanism to continuously assess wage conditions rather than waiting years between major adjustments.

The proposal now faces the next step of Government consideration, with Ms Glover-Rolle indicating that she intends to bring the recommendation to Cabinet and the Finance Committee for further discussion.